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Story time - when did you first hear about the Karmann Ghia?
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mlhsquared
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 4:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My father has always enjoyed taking me and my brothers, and cruising through the area dealerships and looking at the new cars, usually on a Sunday afternoon or evening when the dealerships were closed. In the '60s, this included the Godfrey Volkswagen dealership just a few miles from our home. I always liked looking at the new VWs. They looked different than anything else and the colors were brighter and fresher than the American cars of the day. Over the years, I have had just enough dabblings with these old aircooled cars to keep my interest in them piqued. When I got to the point in life where I had some disposable income and needed (O.K. wanted) a new hobby, it just so happened that my nephew had a '67 Ghia that he needed to sell for college money. It helped him out... it helped me out... and I've been the proud owner of a '67 Ghia ever since.
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'67 Ghia Coupe
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kiwighia68
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 9:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I remember an uncle who drove 1200 Beetles on the dirt roads in the bush of northern South Africa in the early 60s. He would take us to boarding school - 5 of us and all our luggage - and that VW was the only car that didn't get stuck in the mud during the rainy season. When I finished university my mother helped me buy a new 1600 Beetle. I've owned 2 others and a Beach Buggy since, and eventually graduated to Porsches - 911Sc and 993 - all air-cooled.

I've been aware of the Ghias but they were too rare and too expensive for me when I did find one.

Move on 30 years and halfway around the Globe. I went to a place called Tauranga in New Zealand to look at a 1971 Beetle ex-Canada for a restoration project. On the way I drove past what looked like a scrap-yard for VW Beetles and Buses and found Emiko there - with weeds growing through the floor pans and rust slowly consuming the lower 6".

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A month later she was still there and I knew I had to save her. That was in October 2013. This is what she looks like now:

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1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015
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PFN
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 9:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'v been avoiding this topic. I want to tell the story but it seems wrong... I'll tell it how it was related to me though, for good or ill...

Driving with my Grandfather, on seeing a Ghia.... "That's a Karmann Ghia... A beautiful Volkswagen." My Mother always pointed them out to me too. I asked her about them as the years went by, and she told me... "When I was a kid, my father had a party, and a Karmann Ghia rolled up in front of the house. A woman got out.. She was wearing a leopard skin coat, and from that moment I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up..... Her. In that coat... In that car."

As I got even older, I asked my Grandfather more... That woman in the leopard skin coat... Did you know her? The reply was "She got me fired". Huh? "I was the company secretary for *REDACTED* motors in the early '60s. I was sent down to a dealership which was part of the group which wasn't posting the expected profits. And a Karmann Ghia sent down there as a demonstrator was missing." The dealer was a crook, and the KG had been given to dealer's mistress. The woman in the leopard skin coat...
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1962 1/2 Australian Made Beetle
1961 factory RHD Karmann Ghia

(gone now)
1964 RHD Conversion Karmann Ghia
1956 RHD Beetle
1972 Kombi
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steveoutlaw
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 11:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Back in '86 my freshman roommate had a 74 ghia. Been in love with them ever since.
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-Zodiac-
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 12:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wish I was as old as you guys, heard about karmann ghias through my father - he told me a story about his friend in the 90s who had two karmann ghias and some beetles, my dad had a Manx buggy at the time and a muscle nova. He would always tell me how he gave his friend a hard time for owning cars with half an engine. One time he and his friend were going for a ride in the woods - He said he had been waiting for his friend when suddenly he sees a yellow Karmann Ghia flying through the trails, knocking over bushes,small trees, getting sideways around turns, my dad didn't understand this because that car was his friends pride - then a loud sound and he sees his friend stuck in between two trees, unable to move.

His friends other karmann ghia had tragic ending aswell. apparently the guy had made an enemy with a redneck who was following behind. The truck screamed up to the Ghia and rammed into it , both cars going high speed the car flew off the road, and into the dunes of the beach. The guy called my dad and he went out there, along with a tow truck driver, and got it out - all mangled up.

Apparently he didn't have goodluck with rednecks and VW's , on another note he woke up to a loud bang - he went out side and found a large truck smashed into his clean beetle - grabbed a shotgun and fired at the truck, it was a dud - loaded another shell and the windshield blew apart- truck drove off. First shot would have been a slug, second was birdshot.

I looked into getting a Vw not long ago, almost got a autostick 74 eventually got my 73.
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1973 karmann ghia - current, not the last VW.
1947 Chevy stylemaster - gone, but not forgotten.
1995 Ford F-150 - gone, hatred for it lives.
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DorianL
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

These are all such cool stories. Really nice!

I remember falling in love with the air-cooled bug in 1981-2.

I really wish I could remember my first contact with the Ghia Sad

More stories? Keep them coming. These are great. It seems like for a lot of us, we've been wanting one for years. I do remember I had to wait a few years (3? Cool ) before actually buying one...
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Karly
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 3:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've always been into volkswagens (family have them)... I decided to get a beetle as a cheap and cool first car, after daily driving that for 8 years it needed some TLC. At that stage I started going to VW shows with my cousin (who had a fully restored '65 beetle) she introduced me to all the others. Type 3s, kombis, and the ghia. I always thought ghias were beautiful but unobtainable. In terms of rarity I have never seen one driving on the street until I began to go to VW shows.

So I bought a type 3 as my new daily ...it then got to the stage that it needed work too but I wasn't wanting to get into 2 restos. Somewhere along the line I convinced myself maybe I should buy a new VW. For one year I struggled along with an absolute lemon that was in the shop more than not.

Sold it once VW finally replaced its engine and it had gone through its 2nd clutch...by now the bug was done and beautiful, I had the funds for another car. I decided why not drive what I enjoy with 2 air cooled cars it will take the strain off both and mean if I want to do work to one I can still have another to drive. So the search for a ghia began Very Happy
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wrwilliams
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 21, 2019 9:16 pm    Post subject: Re: Story time - when did you first hear about the Karmann Ghia? Reply with quote

I was five years old in 1958. My father drove a K-G through the Black Hills of South Dakota in Alfred Hitchocks' movie North By Northwest. I rode shotgun at the "after-party".
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Rome
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 5:41 pm    Post subject: Re: Story time - when did you first hear about the Karmann Ghia? Reply with quote

My first 7 years we lived in SoCal just north of Santa Monica, from '60 thru '66. German friend of the family up the street had an early '60's Ghia Cabrio; dark red/maroon with black roof. Looking back now, it's possible it was a '65 in Cherry Red. His wife had a white early '60's Chevy Impala. I'd often stay over with them, and remember when the dad took his 2 sons, daughter and me into the village in the Ghia; the 3 of us squirts sitting on the back seat. I would've been around 5 or 6 years old.

Even though my dad worked for VW Pacific in Culver City, he had Beetle company cars, and even an early Squareback. A Ghia would've been a bad choice due to needing a proper rear seat to take me around together with mom.
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NoDents
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 5:47 pm    Post subject: Re: Story time - when did you first hear about the Karmann Ghia? Reply with quote

When I was a wee lad in the mid/late 60s, the teenager next door had a black Ghia. Always admired it. After he got older and his kids were grown, he acquired a Porsche 911 (mid 70s model).
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1963 Bug - Sold in 1980
1966 Karmann Ghia Convertible - Stolen in 1988
1971 Karmann Ghia Convertible, resto/mod COMPLETED 10/2020
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Vladiiiii
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 3:47 am    Post subject: Re: Story time - when did you first hear about the Karmann Ghia? Reply with quote

Actually I only found out about the Ghia while playing Gran Turismo 4, and driving the Ghia around the Nordschleife, wondering how someone could drive a thing (no pun intended Laughing ) so slow anywhere Shocked

Fast forward maybe 10 years right after selling my 996 911 because it wasn't being used that often, I thought about dipping in classic car ownership. I initially wanted a bug, but my Dad persuaded me to go for a Ghia. But in my "innocence", somehow I listened to his advice and bought one at the lower Price Point (maybe 9000 euros), that needed "only a respray and small cosmetic repairs". I could not understand why really nice ones would cost maybe the same money that I got by selling the 911.

I really wanted to get it registered and drive it at least one summer, but while looking around (somehow everything worked), the seat tracks were sinking, together with the floor. Had I passed inspection, I bet on the first drive I would have landed with my a$$ on the street Mad

Because I cannot weld and do bodywork myself, the person (a really good Family friend of ours which I respected to no end) I entrusted the car to, had to completely replace the front mask, floor pans, parts of the wings, parts of the doors, parts of the pillars....It was his last project, which he started with love and dedication, not to dissapoint me.
Tragically he died Oct.2018 (after barely being able to attend my wedding Sep.2018, it was his last wish) from a heart condition he fought with for some years Crying or Very sad
The work has been continued by a bodyshop specialist, and it's now ready for paint in the next weeks.

As this restoration process is a lot of work and spreads over years sometimes, I made the decision not to put the car (72 fat chick) to it's 100% original state, but to modify/backdate it (within my budget) to how my dream Ghia could look like, and keep it as long as I can.

It's a 72 but with 60's old euro style bumpers, small turn signals, rear lights, no fuel door, swan mirror, painted dash, Lowlight steering wheel, and so on. Since I cannot afford a real Lowlight, I settle for a early 60's look anyway. Let's see how it turns out! Wink It's probably the only car I will ever fully restore, so.... I let my dreams take over Embarassed And I know it will have my friend's legacy forever Red Ghia
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udo dreisoerner
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 4:02 am    Post subject: Re: Story time - when did you first hear about the Karmann Ghia? Reply with quote

when i was 17 years old a friend drove a karmann ghia. that was the first time i heard from the karmann. he pics me up at home and after the driving i want a karmann ghia, too, when i get my driving-license. and now i drive karmann ghia for 34 years. my 56th lowlight ist ma karmann ghia number 4.
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Searching for a 1956 lowlight karmann ghia with a VIN number between1273054 and 1273440, and the matching engine with an Engine Number between
1525510 and 1525519 PLEASE OFFER ME ONLY THE CARS THAT I'M LOOKING FOR, THANKS!!
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LeftToaster
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 11:45 am    Post subject: Re: Story time - when did you first hear about the Karmann Ghia? Reply with quote

In 1975, I was 12 years old and we took a family vacation to California (Disneyland etc.). This was a classic 1970's road trip in the pickup / camper. My dad's rig consisted of a Chevy Silverado crew cab pickup (454, 4 Bbl, dual wheels) with a pass through window into the camper. The 3 of us kids rode in the overhead bed of the camper looking out the front window. Different times.

We got to LA and dropped the camper at the Orange County KOA campground and went to Venice Beach. A super cute 20-something woman wearing a tiny bikini, low-rider bell bottoms and enormous sunglasses had a Karmann Ghia that wouldn't start. My dad gave her (car) a jump start - my mom was not impressed. But my brother and I were both blown away by the Karmann Ghia (and the hottie hippy chick).
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